One hundred and one.......books!

This week has been book week at DUCKs. Over the course of the week parents have been invited in to read to their children's class and share time together in the library. William and Oliver have taken part in lots of book related activities in school including a visit from an author and reading to the younger children.

The school supports a local charity, Heart to Heart which funds heart operations in children. Each child was asked to collect sponsorship for a Book-a-thon. The idea was to record each book read to or by William and Oliver and aim for as many as possible to collect as much sponsorship and a house point per book. I asked Oliver and William how many did they think we could read between us. Oliver promptly replied 100 and William topped it with 101! Not one to back out of a challenge we embarked on a week of reading at every opportunity. And we did it, raising £100 each for the charity. William and Oliver proudly took their list in to school to collect their house points and I now have to work out how to wean them off expecting to be read to at breakfast, supper and in the bath!

The main highlight of book week is the fancy dress character book parade. All the staff and pupils come to school dressed as one of their favourite book characters and parade in front of the parents. This year Oliver and William made life easy as they wanted to go as two boys from their Dinosaur Cove books, so normal clothes and then explorer accessories.

The sun was shining and all the children and teachers looked excellent. William coolly waved as he walked by and Oliver got in to character for us!

Sam the Snake!

As Chinese New Year passed we welcomed in the year of the Snake which is Sam's animal, so this is a very auspicious year for him. He is meant to wear or carry some item of red daily for the whole year. To save having to buy lots of red pants (a suggestion from his work colleagues) I bought him a carved wooden snake decorated with red thread to hang on his bag.

Chinese New Year's Eve was while we were in New Zealand but the celebrations carry on for the following two weeks culminating in the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day when yet more all night fireworks are set off.

Last year Sam and I went to Yu Yuan (the oldest part of Shanghai) and saw all the lanterns. This year we thought it would be good to take the boys. So on our second evening home I picked the boys up from school, we picked Sam up from work and all went for supper in William and Oliver's favourite restaurant and had dumplings (we had three week withdrawals!)

After supper we headed in to Yu Yuan and had a wander. The boys really enjoyed seeing the lanterns in all different shapes and sizes. The main snake display was very impressive.

The end of the Kiwi road

Upon reaching Auckland we caught up with Stephen and Gill whom we had stayed with when we came to New Zealand thirteen years ago! We then spent a day with Geoffrey, Richie's brother, and his wife Melissa and her parents. We were also excited to meet Ben, Alice and Charlie's other cousin. They were just about to move house and Melissa told the boys we needed to eat up the freezer which they thought was funny and keep asking when we will move so we can do the same! It was a lovely hot day and William and Oliver entertained us and splashed us in the pool.

On our last day we had the whole day as our flight was not until 1140pm. In search of the elusive Kiwi bird, we spent the day at Auckland Zoo. It is a fantastic zoo and we saw lots of animals including the elephant being taken for a walk outside her enclosure!

Oliver and William got to feed the giraffe and loved the lions and tigers.

The native section was excellent and we were put on a show by William and Oliver and a kea and we finally got to see a Kiwi.

The return flight was straightforward until we landed in Shanghai. As we were emptying overhead lockers we were told that the Chinese Authorities requested us to retake our seats. Some customs officials then boarded the plane and escorted a man off. Luckily we were then allowed off and got home without a hitch.